


Miss Thursday?

by imaginaryjess



Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-01 22:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6538009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginaryjess/pseuds/imaginaryjess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story which goes into some background depth about the Thursday Family life and the background of Morse with some unrequited love along the way!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have made Joan 14 and Sam 16 to make the story easier to read and write. Please read & review to help improve the work, Thank You!

Thursday stared at the young lad sitting on his armchair. He had his mouth open and his legs and arms were stretched out, nearly hitting the painting behind him. The boy had fallen asleep whilst they were driving and Thursday knew that Win would take care of him here, in his home.

The Inspector was a family man and, unlike some members of the police, cared for his family and enjoyed spending time with them.

And now here Thursday was with another boy, another child in his hands. His last bagman had been a bit wet, not really the type of lad Thursday wanted. However, here he was with this intelligent boy, if a bit impertinent, and Thursday knew that Win would probably end up adopting him. Morse was polite, never really speaking rudeness to anybody which was fine with the Inspector.

Truth be told, Thursday liked Morse. He appreciated the lad, he was an asset to the team and he could probably solve anything. Thursday knew that Morse lived alone and he didn`t have any friends. All the other lads on the team thought he was a bit weird and only talked to him about work. Thursday felt fatherly towards him, and wanted him to feel at home and like he had a family in Oxford, hence why the copper was slouching in his house.

“Hellooooo, I`m back!” Thursday heard his daughter shut the door and smiled. Joan never failed to brighten up his day. He heard the usual plonk! As Joan dropped her bags on the floor and watched as she made her way into the sitting room.

“Hello Joanie, good day at school?” School was a sore subject for the Thursdays. She was intelligent, just like her brother, but she didn`t have very good behaviour. She had already been sent home three times last week for her giving cheek and `misconduct`. In fact, Thursday was surprised that she hadn`t been sent home at all this week, unusual for Joan. He did suspect that she had gotten into trouble this week but had bribed her brother- he was willing to keep secrets in exchange for Joan to do his chores.

“ Alright, nothing special!” Joan had, up until this point, failed to notice the young copper. However, as she turned to leave the room, her eyes set upon the boy and she walked towards him, taking in his posture.

“Ummm, why has he got your coat on?” she asked, going to remove it from the sleeping lion.

“Joan”, Thursday warned not wanting her to wake the tired lad.

She snatched her hand away quickly and strutted out, filling the room with attitude. Thursday sighed, no man was ever going to want a girl who said everything she thought.

Thursday followed his daughter into the kitchen where it was warm and busy. The oven was on and the smell of homemade meat pie warmed his stomach. Win was standing by the sink, attempting to set the table and season the potatoes at the same time. Thursday leapt over to her and set the utensils on the counter top.

“Joanie, set the table please” he shouted over the noise, only to find that his daughter was standing next to him. Joan looked at her father annoyed, why did she have to do everything why Sam got to sit upstairs chatting to his girlfriend on the landline?

“You didn`t have to ask but how come Sam gets to do nothing” she exclaimed, slightly put out.

Thursday clipped the back of his daughter`s head playfully. “because he`s older and anyway, don`t be rude.”

Joan sighed and began to place the knives and forks on the table, adding an extra set for Morse.  
Suddenly a figure appeared by the door.

“ Oh it`s you” Joan smirked, annoyance obvious on her face. 

Now Joan and Sam shared a different sort of love. Although they cared for each other, though neither one would admit it, no one would think it. The siblings spent their time bickering with each other over mundane things, usually started by Sam, and usually ended by the Inspector. Joan`s friends thought that Sam was `handsome` and it made her a bit sick.

“Why is there a copper in our house?” he whispered, pinching peppers from the side.

“Dad” was Joan`s reply. Sam nodded, he knew how Dad could be, if he got attached to someone he started bringing them home for food.

Joan slapped his hand out of the way and turned to take the bowl of peppers to the table, however, Sam blocked her way, his tall frame dwarfing her girlish one.

“The dit-dit-dah one?” Sam smirked, he loved annoying his sister.

Joan sighed, looked at her brother and wondered how she had ended up with him. “ Yes the dit-dit-dah one. Now if I can carry on with my jobs...” Joan attempted to side step round her brother but as she did so he grabbed her wrist.

She turned and looked at him, wondering what stupid comment he was going to make when she saw where he was looking.

“What`s in your pockets Joan?” 

“Nothing, why, are you seeing things again?”

Sam frowned, he could see things bulging out of the pockets, he was sure of it. As he attempted to grab Joan`s pockets, she pushed his hand away and accidentally slapped him round the face. Sam was not to know this was an accident and retaliated, pinching Joan`s arm whilst trying to peer into the pockets. 

There was nothing in them.

Still, Sam was not the sort of person to wave a white flag so he carried on, pinching and shouting at Joan whilst she was trying to kick his legs and shouting profanities at him.

“STOP THAT THIS INSTANCE”

Suddenly the Inspector came round from the kitchen and boomed at them, his voice causing the pictures on the wall to shake. He had been quietly reading the paper when he heard the commotion and likened it to a pub brawl, what with the sort of words being thrown about. He pushed the two squabbling teenagers apart, throwing Joan hard enough that she tripped over her own feet onto the wooden floor.

Joan frowned at her brother for being such a nuisance and pulled on the door to get herself off the floor.

“What was that about?” Thursday was accentuating every syllable, a sure sign that he was annoyed.

“Joan started it, she`s hiding something.”

Joan stared at her brother, wondering how to get revenge without going to prison. “You can`t hide what you haven`t got, anyway, you would know a lot about that”. It took a few seconds for the jibe to register in Sam`s mind but then he understood. His eyes widened and he tried to leap onto Joan. It was only Thursday holding him back that saved Joan`s life.

“You little-“

“Joan! I don`t want to hear any more from you today, now in the kitchen both of you”.

The word of their father was more important than their squabbling. Joan clipped the back of Sam`s head and stared at him, wondering how to exchange brothers.

“Quits?” Her brother was staring at her from underneath his eyelashes, seemingly wanting to end the bickering- Joan knew better.

“Never” And with that Joan tossed her hair and dragged Sam into the kitchen where the warmth was steaming up the windows.

The Inspector was sitting at the head of the table, reading the sports column with his beer in his hand. Joan wiped the froth off his lip and muttered a small “sorry”. Thursday smiled and rubbed her head, messing up her already messy beehive.

“I`ll sit here, next to Dad but opposite Morse” exclaimed Joan, wanting to be able to question the young copper.

“Do you think that`s wise, sitting a strange man a foot away from that mini-skirt?” Sam smirked, already continuing the bickering.

“Sam!” spluttered the Inspector, rolling his eyes at his two children, wondering when they were going to grow up. 

“Morse! Come on, sit down”.

At that moment in time, Morse had appeared in the doorway, rubbing his eyes and slouching his shoulders. Thursday gestured towards the table and waited till Win had out the food on the table before sitting down.

Lots of “ooooh, thanks mum” and “delicious, that bits mine!” Could be heard erupting round the table. Win smiled and thanked everyone.

“Thank you Mrs Thursday”

Win stared at Morse before pushing two helpings of the pie onto his plate, ignoring his protestations. “And it`s Win dearie” she finished, flashing a warm, motherly smile at the young copper.

Morse had not even finished his second mouthful before Joan started bombarding him with questions.

“How was your day?” The question came out sweet and innocent and caused Morse to smile gently at Joan, warming her heart.

“It was very good thank you Miss Thursday”

Joan stared at Morse in disbelief. Miss Thursday? Miss Thursday? Not even Ronnie had called her that.

“It`s Joan, Morse”. The young copper simply smiled back, ignoring her suggestion.

Joan took a deep breath in, ready to interrogate.

“And what happened to you then?” she asked breezily, as if she was asking his name.

“Not at the table please Joan”. Thursday ordered, setting his knife and fork down, cutting off Joan`s chances at new information.

Joan stared pointedly at her father. “I was only asking”

“I know what your only.” he joked, picking up his utensils again.

“Where do we leave work Joanie dear?” Joan turned to her brother, staring daggers at him. Did he really have to get involved?

“On the hall stand by the front door” he smirked, going back to eating his food.

Joan wanted to smack that stupid grin off his face.

“Well what shall we talk about then?” Win was cheerily asking the table, whilst glaring at her children to behave themselves. “The weather?”

Sam mumbled something next to Joan, undistinguishable due to the amount of food in his mouth.

She stared at him in confusion, “What was that Sam? Sorry, I couldn`t understand, too much food in your mouth” Joan hissed at him, her teeth like snakes.

Sam leaned closer to Joan so that only she could hear what he was about to say.

“Whether you`re too old to get spanked.” The threat hung in the air between the siblings and Joan could not believe the cheek of her brother.

“I`d like to see you try” Joan muttered, embarrassed and annoyed. 

“Wait till later this evening, I`ll find something you did wrong.” Sam laughed, amused by the situation


	2. Why?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more Thursday family and Jakes
> 
> Please Read and Review!!!

Morse stared at Joan, watching her brown hair spin through the cigar-filled air, just missing several dancers. He thought that she looked very pretty tonight, if somewhat tarty. Her tight grey jumper fitted perfectly around her chest, accentuating the beginning of puberty and her red and blue mini skirt sat just underneath her bottom, showing off her toned, long legs. In a somewhat brotherly way, Morse felt that Joan should have covered up a bit more. He could see the men, drinking their beers by the dozen, following the youngest Thursday around the room with their eyes, greedily taking in what the young fourteen year old had decided to put on show.

“She your girl?”

Morse turned around abruptly and found himself in the presence of Vince, the son of the owner of the club. He stank of alcohol and Morse tried to remember to use this man as an example for “reasons why young girls should cover up”.

“No?” replied Morse confused, unsure if Vince was joking. “She`s underage anyway” he hastily added, to ensure the man didn`t get any ideas. 

“Ah shame, she`s a pretty little thing. I mean, look at those legs!” replied Vince, unaware of Morse`s discomfort.

“Those are very lewd comments sir” spat Morse coolly, and quickly turned around, focusing on the girl in question. He heard Vince mumble something about “all the men in this room thinking it” and disappeared, much to Morse`s relief.

Suddenly, he saw Joan dancing with a man, a man with a V-neck sweater and dirty shoes, a man still with a cigarette in his mouth, a man with jet black hair with a side parting. Morse felt his heart stop when he saw who the man was- Jakes.

Morse couldn`t help but smirk when he saw the way Jakes was dancing, clicking his fingers at the wrong time, moving his head about like a helpless chicken- in fact, Morse was quite content just standing there and watching his superior even though he had nothing left to do at the club, it was quite amusing!

The Jazz music stopped and Morse rose from his seat, preparing to leave. However, the music turned into a slow song, one Morse couldn`t place the name of, and he watched as Jakes pulled Miss Thursday closer to him. Joan had her arms by her sides, awkwardly as if she didn’t know where to put them, Jakes grabbed onto them and placed them round his neck before putting his in the correct position. Morse`s breath got caught in his throat as he saw Jakes slowly placed his hands on Joan`s hips, causing her to flinch with surprise. Morse could not believe it, what did Jakes think he was doing, touching her like that? Before Morse could answer his own question, he nearly fainted with disgust.

Jakes had slid his right hand down from the original place on the hip, down to Joan`s bottom. Here, the copper was squeezing her left buttock, his face giving away no emotion. Joan quickly stepped in and pushed the hand out of the way and guiding it back to her hips. Morse could not see her face but he was pleased with her- at least she had some common sense. Jakes still tried though and Morse watched in amazement as he now slid both hands down to the hem of Joan`s skirt and attempted to force his fingers underneath it. Joan pushed the hands away and Morse saw her whisper something in Jakes ear. The copper smiled and walked towards the bar As Joan made her way over to the neon coloured tables, Morse watched as 3 men quickly grabbed her bottom, laughing with each other as they did so. Joan was laughing aswell before she playfully pushed them off, her face red and flustered..  
Before Morse could unleash his wrath, he was stopped by the look of confusion on Jakes face. To his left, Morse saw Thursday, his hat wonky and a look on his face that could kill. Thursday made his way towards Vince and unbeknownst to anyone else apart from Morse, started having a heated conversation, lots of spitting and talking between teeth going on. Morse knew something was wrong, Thursday was one of the kindest men he had ever met and only got this angry when something had personally affected him.  
All of a sudden, the same men that had spanked Joan made their way towards the DI. Thursday turned, his arm up, ready to throw the first punch when he was stopped by a girl, pushing him away from the criminals- Joan.

Morse ran towards the action, he didn’t want either Thursday getting hurt and he was ready to fight if need be.

Thursday turned towards the girl who had stopped him and started when he realised that it was his Joan. He gave her one glance up and down before bellowing “Get out now”. Joan looked down, embarrassed about the affair and wondering how she was going to get home. Thursday saw his bagman and nodded towards Joan “Morse… see her out”.  
Joan was scared, her father was going to give her a right rollicking when he got home and she was pretty sure that Morse would give her a lecture too. The escort turned Joan roughly and pushed her out of the building, not wanting her to witness any unpleasant scenes.


	3. Affection?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Same-ish stuff  
> Please Read and Review!!!!!

When they got to the top of the stairs which led outside, Morse didn’t see the step and shoved the Thursday girl hard, causing her to fall over the stair and bash onto the floor, her skirt flouncing up and down.

“Ouch, I was going anyway, you didn’t have to push me that hard” muttered Joan, rubbing her leg which seemed in good health.

“I am sorry Miss Thursday, it was an accident” stammered Morse, unsure of what his mother would do if she found out that he had been pushing young girls to the floor.

Joan mumbled something under her breath and Morse resisted the urge to ask what she said, knowing it would be something rude.

He offered his hand to the girl and helped her up, praying that she wouldn’t fall over again.

Morse debated whether to lecture her, he wanted her to know that what those men did was wrong and also that Jakes was just going to break her heart but the girl had a fiery temper and he was not quite sure how she would react.

“Miss, those men in the club?” he began, his pulse rising.

“Oh yes, them old codgers!” Joan stammered, fiddling with the hem on her skirt. “Not really my type I suppose” she joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Morse sighed, she was evading his questions. “What they were doing to you, I mean Miss Thursday, that was abuse!”

Joan looked at him, her eyes full of innocence, her mouth soft and her nose stuck up in the air. “What do you mean Morse? They weren`t doing anything to me apart from trying to tempt me with a few drinks.”   
If it had been anyone else listening to this, they surely would believe her. Morse nearly did too but he knew Joan and her ways. She made a very good liar, he thought to himself, making eye contact and the sort. He could imagine the amount of times she`d got out of an accusation and guessed that her father wasn`t very pleased about this skill.

“Do not lie to me Miss Thursday. I saw what they were doing to you.”

Joan was crestfallen, it was embarrassing enough having to put up with the actions of the men, now she had to relive the moment with Morse of all people!

“Oh, that!” she said, her face turning red. “It’s nothing, it happens all the time”. Joan could feel her cheeks getting flushed and burning and wondered how long till they got home.

“Nothing?” Morse spluttered, his face getting red now. “Happens all the time?” Joan spotted his hands wringing together furiously and prepared herself for the lecture. “I do not mean to intrude Miss but surely you must tell someone if this happens again?”

Joan had had enough. She had had enough of Morse, of her father, of lewd men, of the leery looks she got, of the constant interfering from her family and friends into her private life and of coppers.  
“What do you think I did the first time it happened Morse? Sat about and waited for it to happen again? No, I reported it but the report `got lost`. And anyway, it happens to every other woman in Oxford, in the whole of England and you can`t do anything about it- Men will be men.” Joan snapped, walking furiously ahead of her captor and escort, nearly falling over in her heels.

Morse sighed, he had heard rumours of abuse like this circulating about the station- men touching up young girls but nothing was done about any of it. He now realised why- most of the coppers had probably spanked a girl in their time and saw nothing wrong with it. Morse wanted to talk more about it but the girl was right, nothing could be done about the problem.

He looked up to see Joan staggering about the road with her hair tatty and suspected that she had had something to drink. He caught up with her and began his next interrogation.

“Miss Thursday?”

Joan snapped her head round and stared at Morse straight in the eyes, her face one of annoyance and anger.

“Jakes isn`t the right sort of man” Morse blurted out. He waited tensely, expecting Joan to start shouting at him again.

She surprised him. Her features softened and Morse recognised her now, the normal Joan, the laughy and jokey one that he admired.

“It`s not my fault if my dad scared them all away! “she teased, slowing down to walk at the same pace as her escort.

Morse supressed a smile, he could see Mr Thursday scaring off any boys just by looking them up and down and then bombarding Joan with his opinions- “Too wet”,”slimy”,”an idiot”.  
“I mean, Jakes is alright really, he just can`t dance!” Joan joked, her face now one of amusement.

“Perhaps your father is just trying to help?” Morse gingerly added, expecting her to reply sarcastically when she starting staring daggers at him. Morse guessed that Joan didn`t agree with him.

“I thought I would be alright with a copper” she said thoughtfully, seemingly truthful.

Morse couldn`t resist the urge.

“Well there are coppers and then there are coppers” He smirked, meaning every word.

“And what sort are you?” Joan`s eyes were sparkling in the streetlights, like a frozen pond in the moonlight.

Morse just had to, he had to do, to show Joan that Jakes was an idiot.

“The kind that sees young ladies safely home”.

The response was left hanging in the air and was followed by awkward silence. Joan shivered and Morse realised that she had no coat and was still in her thin jumper.

“Here, take this” he offered, removing his own thick coat.

“No Morse, I cannot” Joan hastily replied, no one had ever offered her their coat before and she though it a little strange from Morse.  
Morse held it out again, firmer. He had been raised to appreciate the weaker sex and to look after them.

Joan sighed and tenderly took it out of Morse`s grasp. It was a little big for her, sleeves came to just above her knees and the hem just draped on the cold floor. However, it was warm and they carried on walking, chatting about Joan`s life and her aspirations.

When they arrived at the Thursday house, Joan quickly removed the coat, bombarding Morse apologies and thank yous. He smiled and nodded and watched as she took her shoes off, her stockings a little too big for her at the feet.

“Go in, I’ll wait to see you inside” Morse broke the silence.  
Joan smiled and ran inside to her warm house, only looking back for a second to see Morse, true to his word, standing outside.


End file.
